166P/NEAT

166P/NEAT

Discovery
Discovered by	NEAT
Discovery date	October 15, 2001
Alternative designations	P/2001 T4
Orbital characteristics ^A
Epoch	March 6, 2006
Aphelion	19.1 AU
Perihelion	8.559 AU
Semi-major axis	13.83 AU
Eccentricity	0.3811
Orbital period	51.43 a
Inclination	15.3813°
Last perihelion	May 20, 2002[1]
Next perihelion	November 26, 2053[2][3][4][5]

166P/NEAT is a periodic comet and centaur in the outer Solar System. It was discovered by the Near Earth Asteroid Tracking (NEAT) project in 2001 and initially classified a comet with provisional designation P/2001 T4 (NEAT), as it was apparent from the discovery observations that the body exhibited a cometary coma. It is one of few known bodies with centaur-like orbits that display a coma, along with 60558 Echeclus, 2060 Chiron, 165P/LINEAR and 167P/CINEOS. It is also one of the reddest centaurs.^[6]

166P/NEAT has a perihelion distance of 8.56 AU,^[1] and is a Chiron-type comet with (T_Jupiter > 3; a > a_Jupiter).^[1]

References

1. "JPL Small-Body Database Browser: 166P/NEAT (2001 T4)" (2008-03-02 last obs). Retrieved 2008-09-14.
2. "166P/NEAT Orbit". Minor Planet Center. Retrieved 2014-06-18.
3. Syuichi Nakano (2005-06-30). "166P/NEAT (2001 T4) (NK 1187)". OAA Computing and Minor Planet Sections. Retrieved 2012-02-20.
4. Seiichi Yoshida (2005-11-09). "166P/NEAT". Seiichi Yoshida's Comet Catalog. Retrieved 2012-02-20.
5. Horizons output. "Observer Table for Comet 166P/NEAT". Retrieved 2012-02-20. (Observer Location:@sun)
6. Bauer, James M.; Fernández, Yanga R. & Meech, Karen J. (2003). "An Optical Survey of the Active Centaur C/NEAT (2001 T4)". Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific. 115 (810): 981–989. Bibcode:2003PASP..115..981B. doi:10.1086/377012.

External links

• Orbital simulation from JPL (Java) / Ephemeris
• 166P on Seiichi Yoshida's comet list